700 WLW, the "nation's station" is turning 90 years old today! For those interested in learning some history of the station and its operations, the Cincinnati Enquirer has posted a couple articles on its website pertaining to this milestone this week. I was hoping they might fire up the 1927 Western Electric transmitter for this anniversary, but maybe they are waiting for the big 100 in ten years. Here are a couple links:

People moan that AM is dead, but nobody's told these guys. 700 WLW, still calling itself "The Big One," and "The Nation's Station," remains a well-engineered, profitable, class A nondirectional. Engineers have been known to live on-site, and a nearby ham has nailed W8XO for his own call.

A custom-built switching system allows instant connection from the primary Blaw-Knox, or a recently added backup tower, to any of the four working transmitters. Meanwhile, way out of sight in the back of the building, the 500 kW monster remains amazingly intact. It's in good shape, considering. The huge modulation transformers have been drained of PCB, a few parts are a bit rusty, and the catwalk is a tempting place to store things. Most of the huge tubes, though, are still clamped into place, as if awaiting the cool surge of the water and the order again to hurl lightning.

No surprise, then, that WLW saw the year 2000 in right. The chief engineer checked everything over, replaced one bad tube, and brought up the 70-year-old Western Electric. Fed through WLW's Orban audio processor, it sounded great. The station went out on it from 10:45 PM local time to 12:15 AM in the new year. The news announcers found this out, and talked it up. It was also noted how much more quietly water-cooled transmitters operate than new ones with air blowers......

Growing up in NW Ohio, before cable TV, on the farm in '50's-'60's we had radio and a 1951 B/W TV on 40ft high antenna w/ rotator whch didn't receive Cinci TV (except some nights). Mom and the neighbors all listened to Ruth Lyons' (later Bob Braun) weekday talk-variety radio-TV show on WLW AM 700. She had guests including Bob Hope, Phyllis Diller, Lee Liberace, Van Cliburn, etc.

Ruth Lyons 50-50 Club TV program was THE stay-at -home wife's program. ON around noon time. As a grade school-er, I walked home for lunch break, on the way back, before A/C, all of the windows along the way, would be open and I could walk all the way back to school without missing a single word of Ruth Lyon's and could she ever TALK.

My father said that during the WLW 500kw era, a nearby filling station (gas station), could not shut off it lights.

Ruth Lyons 50-50 Club TV program was THE stay-at -home wife's program. ON around noon time. As a grade school-er, I walked home for lunch break, on the way back, before A/C, all of the windows along the way, would be open and I could walk all the way back to school without missing a single word of Ruth Lyon's and could she ever TALK.

My father said that during the WLW 500kw era, a nearby filling station (gas station), could not shut off it lights.

Charlie

Living in the Cincinnati area (just a couple miles from the transmitter), I've heard many myths concerning the 500kw era. The most interesting is that people thought that there were ghosts in their houses and barns because you could hear the signal in the tin roofs. I wonder if there is any truth to this? Since I live so close to the transmitter, the station does seem to creep in to a lot of electronic devices. My computer speakers constantly would play the station very quietly, and I once had a mis-wired phone connection that made it hard to use a phone because you heard the station so clear in the receiver. Even though they ONLY broadcast at 50kw now, I've been able to get a clear Reds game as far south as central Louisiana and in the southern suburbs of Atlanta at nighttime. I can only imagine what it was like at 10x the power.

I guess I will ask the obvious question, Bigredmachine. Were there any claims, during the 500 K era, by people who said they were able to hear WLW through their dental fillings?.

I think the "radio heard through dental fillings" could well be just an urban legend. However, I did talk, once, to an old ham who grew up in the 1930's. He had a ham operator next door who transmitted at 1000 watts. The fellow claimed he could hear the ham operator whenever he would fill up his kitchen sink with water, via the sink plumbing.

I am not at all surprised about a nearby 50kw "flame thrower" coming through on electronic devices. I used to live down the street from a Cable and Wireless transmitting site and had a heck of a time filtering it out of my stereo.

When I was in the U.S. Army, stationed at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, I used to listen to "Music til Dawn" with Pete Mathews, on WLW (not the whole program) on a old Sparton tube radio.

That was almost 500 miles away.

I wanted desperately to receive a station from British Colombia, CN, as a kid, after reading Eric Collier's "Three Against the Wilderness", But my Stromberg-Carlson 430M, couldn't get past the 'Rockies.